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Invisibletdubz
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Registered: 02/26/12
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New Android Malware Spreads Through Sketchy Apps To Older Cellphones
    #23883661 - 12/01/16 04:53 AM (7 years, 1 month ago)

https://motherboard.vice.com/read/gooligan-android-malware-spreads-through-sketchy-apps-to-older-cellphones

new strain of Android malware has infected at least 1.3 million cellphones, taking control of the devices and stealing the users’ Google login tokens in an attempt to rack up fraudulent ad money, according to new research.

Google and the cyber security company Check Point worked together to track down the campaign, which was dubbed “Gooligan.” The malware is part of a larger family referred to as “Ghost Push” and is still spreading at a rate of 13,000 new hacked devices per day, according to Check Point, which published an analysis of the malware on Wednesday.

Read More: Goodbye, Android

Instead of stealing people’s Google docs or their emails, the malware’s goal was much more utilitarian: install adware to make money for the virus’ creators.

The malware spreads through sketchy apps—Check Point identified 86 of them—mostly present on third party stores, but also on Google Play, according to a Google spokesperson. To take control of the device, a process known as “rooting,” the malware took advantage of well-known security holes and exploits, targeting older versions of Android, particularly Android 4 (Jelly Bean, KitKat) and 5 (Lollipop), according to Check Point.

Be very careful when downloading and installing apps from outside Google Play. Ideally, just don’t do it.
In an ideal world where users run updated software, this would mean very few people would be vulnerable. But given that carriers and manufacturers are slow to push updates, most Android phones in the world run old versions of the operating system. For this reason, 74 percent of Android cellphones could potentially be infected, according to Check Point.

As usual, if you use Android and especially if you have an older Android cellphone whose software is not up to date, be very careful when downloading and installing apps from outside Google Play. Ideally, just don’t do it.

Read more: Malware Hunters Catch New Android Spyware For Governments In The Wild

Adrian Ludwig, the director of security at Android, who recently told Motherboard that Android is mostly as secure as iOS, said in an online post that Google has taken several steps to protect affected users. He said the company has alerted all those who got infected, disabled their access tokens to force them to log back in, removed malicious apps from the Google Play store, and in some cases even prevented users from installing the malicious apps.

Ludwig said that they didn’t find any signs of fraudulent activity within the hacked Google accounts.

“The motivation behind Ghost Push is to promote apps, not steal information,” he wrote in an online post.

If you are worried you might have been a victim of Gooligan, Check Point created a website where you can check if your account was compromised. If you go infected, you might have to reinstall the operating system on your phone, a process known as re-flashing.

On the bright side, “no passwords need to be reset,” according to a Google spokesperson.

“The motivation behind Ghost Push is to promote apps, not steal information.”
Once again, hackers didn’t need fancy tricks or exploits to hack a large number of Android cellphones.

“With the age of the exploits, and the fact that the source code for those exploits has been publicly available for years, makes me assume the malware authors are either amateurs or don't find their targets important enough to use modern exploits on,” Jon Sawyer, a researcher who specializes in Android security, told Motherboard in an email. “Most Android malware is boring, rarely do we see anything taking advantage of newer vulnerabilities, even rarer do we see zero days.”


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InvisibleByrain

Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 9,664
Re: New Android Malware Spreads Through Sketchy Apps To Older Cellphones [Re: tdubz]
    #23883665 - 12/01/16 05:02 AM (7 years, 1 month ago)

Use fdroid instead of google. Or even compile your apks yourself.


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Invisibletdubz
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Registered: 02/26/12
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Re: New Android Malware Spreads Through Sketchy Apps To Older Cellphones [Re: Byrain]
    #23883666 - 12/01/16 05:05 AM (7 years, 1 month ago)

Seems like Android has been taking a big hit on security this last year...maybe much more than Apple although less publicized. Both operating systems seem to be much more vulnerable than the developers lead on to believe. Windows 10 is probably more secure than both. Every month on the Android security site I see a list of exploits just as long as the month before. I still use Android because I think it is great, but it is starting to be targeted just as much as windows due to its popularity.


Edited by tdubz (12/01/16 05:10 AM)


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InvisibleByrain

Registered: 01/07/10
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Re: New Android Malware Spreads Through Sketchy Apps To Older Cellphones [Re: tdubz]
    #23885327 - 12/01/16 05:55 PM (7 years, 1 month ago)

Windows is even remotely secure. Which of those 3 are most secure is hard to say, but if you care about security you should certainly not run apple or windows products. There aren't a lot of good choices for mobile devices so android seems to harder to replace. As for computers linux is relatively secure by default and can be made more so with work, but you should probably run something like openbsd or maybe freebsd if security is your main priority.


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InvisibleJohn NadaDiscord
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Registered: 03/03/03
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Re: New Android Malware Spreads Through Sketchy Apps To Older Cellphones [Re: Byrain]
    #23886059 - 12/01/16 10:09 PM (7 years, 1 month ago)

Do you know anything about CyanogenMod? Have you tried Ubuntu Touch yet?


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Invisibletdubz
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Registered: 02/26/12
Posts: 5,586
Re: New Android Malware Spreads Through Sketchy Apps To Older Cellphones [Re: John Nada]
    #23886421 - 12/02/16 01:21 AM (7 years, 1 month ago)

Cyanogen mod is awesome they release security updates very promptly like as soon as they are discovered by the droid community(monthly). Make sure you know what you are doing, you don't want to end up with a bricked phone.


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InvisibleByrain

Registered: 01/07/10
Posts: 9,664
Re: New Android Malware Spreads Through Sketchy Apps To Older Cellphones [Re: John Nada]
    #23886909 - 12/02/16 08:57 AM (7 years, 1 month ago)

I only know a little about cyanogenmod, I have considered trying it, but I am not sure its currently practical on my phone. I have an alcatel onetouch idol 3 and seems in android 6 they removed fastboot, this means that I can not easily root it and many things I would like to do with it are limited. One potential solution would be to downgrade the firmware, root it and then upgrade the firmware again... I haven't worked up the energy or courage to try something so potentially risky. My main use case for android besides using it as a phone is helping bug test RetroArch and various libretro cores, unfortunately the OpenGL ES drivers are also crap... I have not used ubuntu at all in any capacity.


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Invisibletdubz
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Registered: 02/26/12
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Re: New Android Malware Spreads Through Sketchy Apps To Older Cellphones [Re: Byrain]
    #23886953 - 12/02/16 09:17 AM (7 years, 1 month ago)

ubuntu seems like a bad choice for a phone OS.


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Offlinegummy
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Registered: 12/21/16
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Last seen: 7 years, 1 month
Re: New Android Malware Spreads Through Sketchy Apps To Older Cellphones [Re: tdubz]
    #23947071 - 12/21/16 06:59 PM (7 years, 1 month ago)

that's okay


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